A job objective is the merging of your perceived strengths and the job you think those strengths would allow you to be most effective in. Some career counselors advise against objectives statements because they can limit you to a specific position when your skills match several. However in certain cases objectives provide the necessary opportunity to sell facts not easily garnered from an accomplishment oriented resume.

Here are some cases where including an objective might be a good idea:

• Recent college graduates without work history can use the objective to let the potential employer know what type of work they would like to do.
• Those who know exactly what job they want should use the objective to spell out why they are the perfect candidate. Let the employer know you designed your course work around your love of shoes and accounting.
• Those whose career goal isn’t obvious on their resumes. If you worked in finance for 10 years but are looking to work in human resources take this opportunity to let the reviewer know it wasn’t a mistake your resume ended up on their desk, even better, let the reader know what skills and lessons you learned in your prior field that you can bring to the new one.

Your technical abilities must stand out as they qualify you for further examination. When searching through resumes often before your resume gets to a person with expertise in the area you’re applying to it’s reviewed by an administrative clerk or even a computer. These are both looking for specific keywords which let them know you have the core 1 or 2 skills they know someone needs to qualify for the job their looking to fill. Once they find these keywords they pass the resume on to someone more qualified to assess if you’re right for a job. Here are some tips to make sure your resume makes it through the first step:

1. List your skills at the top of the resume – try to mention these details early, don’t relegate them to a skills box at the very end of your resume
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Finding out whether a position is new or a replacement can be a great help in preparing your resume. If the position is new highlight skills in hiring, budgeting and planning – show the employer you have the skills to get the job started quickly and effectively. If you will be replacing someone find out why as again this will help you to shape what skills are most important on your resume. If the department has been performing poorly then highly any experience you have in turning operations around. If you don’t have turn around experience highlight skills such as mentoring showing your ability to lead and guide employees in need of assistance.

Many people discount the value of including their volunteer work in their resumes. On the other hand, many employers are interested in finding people who are willing to commit themselves and go the extra mile for little in return. Volunteer work is a great way to show you’re focused on impact and not just compensation.